Giambologna's beautiful Mannerist sculpture of the "Rape of the Sabines" (1583)
is displayed in the outdoor open Loggia dei Lanzi in the Pza. della Signoria in Florence.
The subject matter depicts a legend based on accounts by Livy and Plutarch after the founding of Rome,
when the newly created city was in need of women to help ensure the Roman lineage.

Here, Giambologna creates an event in this story where two Roman men abduct a woman from
the neighboring Sabine town, in a serpentine sculpture made of a single piece of marble.
To see the total effect created by the artist in this very complicated design, it is good to walk all around
the sculpture to see which angle shows the best point of view.
When one considers how difficult it is to make a single figure sculpture, imagine combining three figures
in a composition like this one !

Here I've chosen to photograph Giambologna's masterpiece at night when the lighting was dramatic.